Simulation-First Automation

Growing product complexity, increasing pressure to shorten delivery timelines, and the need to manage thousands of robotic systems across manufacturing operations have exposed the limitations of traditional automation engineering. In conventional projects, hardware and software are often developed sequentially, making critical issues visible only during commissioning. By that stage, adjustments can be costly, delay project schedules, and complicate efforts to scale automation solutions across the organization.

Together with MHP, Wandelbots, and NVIDIA, Schaeffler has adopted a different approach. Rather than validating automation concepts on the physical production line, teams develop, test, and refine them within a digital environment first. This use case demonstrates how simulation-driven development, built on digital twins and hardware-independent automation logic, can pave the way toward Software-Defined Manufacturing. 

Historically, the planning and commissioning of manufacturing systems has been heavily driven by hardware considerations, while software integration followed later in the process. Many validation steps could only take place once physical equipment had been assembled, making it difficult to identify issues early. As a result, extensive prototyping remained necessary, and additional work during commissioning often led to delays measured in weeks or even months.

At the same time, production environments continue to become more technically demanding. In highly specialized applications such as inverter manufacturing, process behavior, geometric constraints, and operational risks can be difficult to predict without extensive physical testing. For Schaeffler, this created a growing gap between the flexibility required by modern manufacturing and the speed at which automation solutions could be deployed.

The objective was clear: establish a repeatable development model that enables early validation, minimizes risk, and can be scaled across facilities, applications, and production systems. 

To address these challenges, Schaeffler implemented a simulation-first approach that combines Digital Twin technology with a hardware-independent automation layer. The solution brings together high-fidelity simulation capabilities from NVIDIA Omniverse and a unified, hardware-agnostic automation platform from Wandelbots.

MHP acted as both integration partner and methodological lead. Combining industrial process expertise, simulation know-how, and implementation experience proved essential to creating a cohesive solution. Drawing on its experience with simulation environments and Wandelbots technology, MHP ensured that all components were integrated into a scalable and consistent architecture.

Wandelbots provided the hardware-independent automation framework along with standardized interfaces connecting simulation and real-world execution. NVIDIA Omniverse served as the open simulation environment used to model and validate complex production processes with high accuracy.

The result is a shared development environment where robot behavior, process logic, and system interactions can be designed, tested, and refined long before any physical implementation takes place. 

As part of the implementation, the project teams created a digital twin of a robotic packaging cell. Building on this model, they established a simulation-driven workflow for validating robot motion, manufacturing layouts, cycle times, and more complex process interactions.

The digital environment also enabled early verification of machine vision systems and mechanical constraints. This included virtual testing of camera positioning and lighting concepts, as well as identifying critical packaging requirements before physical deployment began.

One example illustrates the practical impact of the approach. Packaging tolerances that would likely have caused collisions and contamination risks during commissioning were identified and resolved in simulation. As a result, costly rework was avoided before equipment reached the production floor.

The initiative also changed the underlying development model. Instead of progressing through a sequential hardware-first process, automation engineering became a parallel effort in which hardware and software evolve together. Simulation-based validation complements, and in some cases replaces, physical prototyping. Risks can therefore be identified much earlier, while automation logic becomes increasingly reusable across different applications. This shift improves both scalability and development efficiency. 

In the initial use cases, the simulation-first approach reduced development cycle times by approximately two weeks. At the same time, teams were able to minimize rework and avoid delays that previously could have extended project timelines by several weeks or even months.

Earlier validation also reduced reliance on physical prototypes. Hardware and software development could proceed in parallel, shortening overall project durations and bringing issues to light during development rather than during commissioning.

For Schaeffler, the significance of this approach lies in its scalability. The underlying model creates a foundation for deploying automation solutions beyond individual production cells and rolling them out across global operations. 

A New Development Model for Software-Defined Manufacturing 

This collaboration demonstrates how Schaeffler is moving from traditional project-based automation toward a software-defined, simulation-driven development model. Earlier validation, reusable automation logic, and the separation of software from hardware create the foundation for Physical AI-enabled manufacturing at scale.

Beyond improving efficiency, the project highlights a broader transformation in how industrial automation can be designed, validated, deployed, and scaled in the future.